European and International Harmonization of Technical Standards in the Field of Printing and Paper Converting Machines

Every manufacturer who has exported machinery to other countries and every user who has imported machinery from other countries is well aware of the difficulties arising from the different technical regulations and standards in different parts of the world. In many practical cases additional technical safety measures have to be undertaken after the machine has been installed to comply with other technical safety requirements. This procedure of re-equipment is the outcome of the tremendous variety of industrial safety legislation existing in all countries of the world. The harmonizing of the existing safety standards, is the objective of the current work in the CEN TC198 Printing and Paper Making Machines. The existing working group co-operate with the US manufacturers to find solution of common safety problems to help the designers of the machines to minimize the cost of adapting the machines in practice. It is further intended to establish an ISO standard for international use.